Shopify vs Magento for fashion specifically — when does each win?

Honest cut, fashion-specific:

Shopify wins for fashion if: catalog under 2,000 SKUs (or 100 per product without Plus), B2B share under 15%, drops infrequent or stockless, no complex returns automation, ops team is 1–2 people, comfortable with $300–$1.5k/mo app spend. The Shopify app marketplace has decent fashion-specific apps (Klaviyo, Recharge for subscriptions, Loop, Klarna).

Magento wins for fashion if: catalog above 5,000 SKUs, B2B share above 20%, drop-release reliability matters, returns automation is a margin priority, multi-region with shared inventory, AR + lookbooks + PIM-driven catalog, ERP integration. Fashion brands typically migrate to Magento around $5M GMV when Shopify variant ceilings + app-fee accumulation start hurting.

Specific fashion ceilings on Shopify: 100 variants per product (Plus: 2,000) is the most common reason fashion brands move; the next is per-tx fees (2.4–2.9% on third-party gateways) eating ~$120k/yr at $5M GMV; the third is Shopify B2B gaps (multi-step approval workflows, complex tier pricing).

Hybrid setup — Shopify for D2C drops, Magento for B2B/wholesale — works for fashion brands selling both retail and direct, but the operational complexity is real (PIM as middleware, dual checkout, double the surface area). I only recommend it above $25M GMV with a hard B2C/B2B split.